Digital Analysis & Affairs

Why don’t people join political parties anymore?

Several political parties face a general decrease in the number af party members. Research in political science points to the fact that future political organizations will have a relatively large base of non-members. These particular kinds of members don’t pay subscription fees, they don’t want rights or members-only-benefits. They don’t want commitment and they choose to contribute from cause to cause. So the question that political organizations ask themselves now is: How do we engage non-members? How can we facilitate future political participation? And how can we benefit from the potential of non-members?

In our work with political organizations and parties, we have found an ongoing movement comparable to that of the digitalization of movies, music and even books. Just as the once so impressive and appreciated CD and DVD collections that we all had to locally own has now lost its appeal and instead been replaced by streaming services, so has the idea of owning a membership lost its appeal. We are more interested in subscribing to specific opinions and ideas, discussing them across geographical borders, rather than joining local groups.

Non-members need new forms of participation opportunities that meet multiple degrees of political activity. Parties and political organizations will have to become ‘multi-speed membership’ organizations in order to draw advantage from the emerging non-member base. Having developed perhaps the most reliable big data algorithm to analyze political agendas on social media, our specialists within political sciences and marketing consultants can help leverage your organization or political party to meet the members of the future.